Focus groups were also held with parents to review the expanded item bank. Convenience
sampling, by means of personal contacts, was used to recruit six parents of
children (ages infant through 21 years) with disabilities, who were English speaking, to
participate by telephone in one of the two focus groups. During the group conference
calls, parent participants were asked to provide feedback on the expanded set of PEDI
items and response options that they were provided via e-mail. Parents were asked if
there were other important functional skills in each of the three content domains that
should be addressed. Parents were also asked if items were written clearly for parents
to understand and respond to. For the response options, parents were asked: (a) Are
the definitions of each rating clear? (b) Do the ratings reflect meaningful distinctions
in management of daily life tasks? (c) Will parents be able to make these distinctions
in their child’s management of daily skills? and (d) Do you have a preference for a
“Difficulty” (respond with how difficult) versus an “Easy” (respond with how easy)
scale? Calls were facilitated by one member of the project team who took notes to
record the parents’ input. In addition, telephone calls were audiotaped. Each call lasted
approximately 60 minutes. Participants provided written informed consent prior to the
calls and were provided with an honorarium by mail following the call. Table 1 provides
a description of the participants.